Fourth Book: Daphnis and Chloe Lying Together, Third Variant (Daphnis et Chloe couches ensemble, troisieme variante) Possibly 1937

Aristide Maillol made this print, Daphnis and Chloe Lying Together, sometime in his career, using a warm, reddish-brown ink that feels both earthy and intimate. It’s a simple image, but within that simplicity, there’s a lot to unpack about touch, connection, and the art of making. Look closely at the lines – they’re not fussy or overly detailed. Instead, they’re confident and direct, capturing the essence of the figures with an economy of means. Maillol isn’t trying to create a photographic representation. It's more like he’s feeling his way around the forms, using the ink to trace the contours of their embrace. The texture of the paper is important here, too; the slight graininess adds another layer of tactility to the image. The way the figures are intertwined, the way their limbs blend together, it reminds me a little of Picasso’s more tender moments, particularly his drawings of lovers. But where Picasso can be angular and fragmented, Maillol is all about the curve and the flow. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, artists building on and responding to what came before, finding their own way to express timeless themes.